Brothers Charles and Henry Greene have a most appropriate surname. Their work—currently the focus of “A New and Native Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene,” which is showing at the MFA through Oct. 18—possesses a subtlety, a freshness, and a combination of handcrafted simplicity and technical complexity.

The pieces in the collection gather influence from the natural settings of their creations and the organic condition of their materials. However, an exhibit of this sort can only focus on one of these aspects—either internal or external—and the pistachio green walls of the furniture-store showroom set-up lack the ability to portray context. The emphasis on the natural attributes of the raw materials comes through, but it also shortchanges the importance of overall environment that influenced the brothers’ creative process.

Arriving in Boston in 1888 to study architecture at MIT, the Greenes eventually found inspiration in their own artistic ambitions and cultural experiences. “I had a feeling of keen disappointment,” Charles noted. “I wanted to be an artist.” This aesthetic drive was complemented by the influence of Japanese art, which entered the Western consciousness after Japan ended its isolationism and figured into every major Greene project after the 1904 design of the Adelaide A. Tichenor commission.

But the striking thing about the firm of Greene and Greene was not the personality that the brothers injected into their designs—which extended beyond residences, though their bungalows became their signature—but the way that they eased their creations into the existing conditions with which they were working. This naturalism made them an embodiment of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, which imbued the creation of furniture and the domestic with a political aspect; working in opposition to the sterilizing effects of the Industrial Revolution, the movement emphasized a return to handicraft, an importance of organic materials, and an emphasis on style within the middle-class home.

For the brothers Greene, this was manifested in the subtle details of their furniture design. One living room table was sent to the builders with the instructions that the “architect will give direction of grain,” and sure enough, the wood’s naturally-occurring growth rings are the focal point of the table’s opposing geometric design.

Gentle curves, ebony, and silver inlays decorate their chairs, tables, and benches with a balance that rings both classic and modern. The lamps featured in the exhibit are certainly a bright spot amongst the dark, rich mahogany of many of the other creations, most notably for their ability to include a variety of mediums in one work—metal, ceramics, wood, and glass, for example.

But the lack of emphasis on the brothers’ ability to incorporate the natural surroundings into the designs of their homes is an important missing component of the exhibit. Though there are blueprints and photos of some of their buildings in the exhibition, they are overshadowed by the decorative aspects of individual pieces and fail to express any sense of atmosphere—a not-insignificant focus for the brothers.

The most interesting photo depicts the incorporation of a full-grown tree into the stone terrace of one of their creations. There is mention of some of their more unique structures—the granite house of D.L. James which seems to grow from the granite cliff on which it sits, the use of landscape and flow in general—but there is a disappointing lack of emphasis on their larger triumphs beyond a few isolated blueprints and photos.

Still, the Greene brothers’ attention to detail offers a credit to the more mundane face of American art and character; the pragmatism of design demonstrates not just the personality of Charles and Henry Greene, but an American ideal throughout. —Staff writer Beryl C.D. Lipton can be reached at blipton@fas.harvard.edu.